Fair Game

“Summer Fist MMA Series”

The Orange County Fair happens every summer here in Costa Mesa, California and is a fun environment for the entire family. I happen to be a local resident who’s enjoyed visiting the O.C. Fairgrounds for the food, rides, music, crafts and varied entertainment for many years. Some say, “Its good old-fashioned fun,” where people of all ages can find something of interest. The Fair offers many desirable amenities and is a good way for most anyone to enjoy themselves for a reasonably modest admission fee. The spacious Orange County Fairgrounds, surrounded by some expensive real estate, is home for one of the largest continuing swap meets in the state.

This year marked the inaugural Summer Fist MMA Series inside the fairgrounds' Action Sports Grandstand Arena, which is normally known for hosting motorcycle and rodeo events. This special Summer Fist MMA Series, which was co-produced by Roy Englebrecht Events Promotion; sponsored by Budweiser, Orange County Harley Davidson and Capistrano Harley Davidson, proved to be very exciting and highly eventful for all the MMA fans in attendance!

The four matchups were mainly between locally based Southern California fighters and were officially sanctioned by the State Athletic Commission. The night featured high-profile referees, top ringside judges plus two lovely ring girls who managed to entice the excited crowd in between rounds. Englebrecht smartly added a drawing with sponsored products as prizes for the audience and a $500 cash “Knockout Promotion Raffle”. All of these extra items, including the comfortably warm Southern California summer evening air amid the carnival’s colorful neon-lit atmosphere, assisted with the success of this year’s Summer Fist MMA Series.

There were only four matchups on the evening’s fight-card, but each bout displayed enormous amounts of highly-anticipated MMA action!

Making their MMA debut, the first match was between Jason Lofton (Farfan) against Brian Davaney (Fight Science), where everyone witnessed a solid first round K.O. for Davaney.

In the next matchup, Tyler Weathers (Joker’s Wild) vs. John Sassone (H.B. Ultimate), both fighting it out for the full three rounds, leaving Weathers as the victor by a close decision.

Then, Patrick Doty (MMA Headquarters) faced off against Armande Contreras (LA Boxing) in a three round heavy-duty battle in which Doty won by a K.O.

In the exciting “Main Event” we saw Kevin Casey (Gracie Academy) vs. Andrew Flores (Riverside Submission), which went three brutal rounds to a close win by decision for Casey.

For this event, professional referees like Jason Herzog and Steve Davis conducted the action inside the ring while experienced judges, including the legendary “Judo” Gene LeBell, sat ringside to score their cards as the fighter’s engaged through vigorous rounds of MMA action!

2008 Summer Fist Mixed-Martial Arts Scoring Breakdown:

Effective Punches: Punches that land solidly & cleanly.

Effective Aggressiveness: This means being effective while being aggressive; forcing the fight & landing punches.

Ring Generalship: This is when the fighter takes control of the ring action.

Good Defense: A good fighter can avoid taking blows while still keeping his hands ready offensively.

10 points awarded to the Winner of the round & 9 points to the Loser. If the Loser is knocked down, he may be awarded only 8 points.